Holyoke Massachusetts

Biography of Charles Henry Tower

Famous in the annals of American history is the long-established family of Charles Henry Tower, for its representatives helped establish and build up the New England colonies, were always ready to fight for freedom and justice, and participated in the early French, the Revolutionary, and the Civil Wars. Moreover, these men of fine old stock, sturdy and hardworking, were in the habit of using their hands in some trade or occupation of immediate benefit to the community. These traits came down from his forebears to Charles Henry Tower, who in his eighty-nine years and until retirement, was in some way … Read more

Biography of James Hale Newton

When a man’s manifold activities in the field of banking, building, and general business win for him the title of “Grand Old Man,” his place as leader is firmly established. Thus was James Hale Newton regarded in Holyoke, Massachusetts. He was of a long-established New England family, which originated in England. The pioneer ancestor was Richard Newton, who settled in Massachusetts in 1638, and afterward was admitted as freeman of the colony. For many years he lived in Sudbury, then settled in Marlborough, where with eight others he founded the township, and died’ there when nearly a hundred years old, … Read more

Biography of Charles S. Browning

CHARLES S. BROWNING-A successful druggist of Ludlow for nearly a half century, Charles S. Browning is also treasurer of that town and one of its prominent citizens. He is a banker, and active in all important public affairs. Charles S. Browning was born in Chicopee, July 7, 1854 the son of John C. and Joanna (Peck) Browning, both natives of Colerain, Franklin County, Massachusetts. Charles S. Browning was educated in the public schools of Chicopee. When he was sixteen years old he entered the employ of his brothers, A. W. and L. C. Browning, druggists, at Windsor Locks, Hartford County, … Read more

Ancestry of Charles Oliver Emerson of Brockton and Rockland, Massachusetts

Charles Oliver Emerson, treasurer of the Emerson Shoe Company, of Rockland, Mass., one who has been prominently identified with the shoe manufacturing industry for a number of years, is a native of what at the time of his birth, July 14, 1856, was known as the town of North Bridgewater, now the city of Brockton, Mass., where he resides. He is a son of the late John Oliver Emerson and his wife, Caroline Augusta Packard, and is descended from historic old New England ancestry on both the paternal and maternal sides.

Biography of Charles E. Mackintosh

President and treasurer of D. Mackintosh Sons Company, of Holyoke, Massachusetts, and head of the great cotton dyeing industry his father founded, is widely known in Holyoke and a popular citizen. Mr. Mackintosh was born in that city on September 14, 1857. His grandsire, Donald Mackintosh, was a merchant in Edinburgh, Scotland, through a long term of years. He was born in Killen, Perthshire, and died in Edinburgh. His son, Donald Mackintosh, was born in Edinburgh in 1819 and died in Holyoke, September 27, 1902. His only brother, James Mackintosh, died in 1871. Completing his studies in Edinburgh, Donald Mackintosh … Read more

Biography of Lewis I. Bartlett

LEWIS I. BARTLETT. President of the Springfield Motors Specialties Company, Incorporated, was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, May 3, 1887, the son of William Cornelius Bartlett and Harriet I. (Wolcott) Bartlett, of Holyoke. He is a great-great-grandson of Elijah Bartlett, who was a soldier of the Revolution. Elijah Bartlett, his son Oliver, his son Lewis H., and his son, William C., were all of Northampton, Massachusetts. William C. Bartlett located in Springfield, in 1873, and after a successful career as builder withdrew to engage in the automobile business. He died in 1923. He was the victim of a peculiar accident about … Read more

Biography of George Henry Allyn

A resident of Holyoke, Hampden County, for more than half a century and prominently connected with his town’s great growth and development during that period, as one of its leading and most expert realtors, Mr. Allyn was a descendant of an old and historic Connecticut family of English extraction. The first member of the family to settle on Massachusetts, was his great-grandfather, David Allyn, born October 23, 1759, at Allyn’s Point, Connecticut, who came to Hampden County as a young man and settled on 1795 in Montgomery, which town, however, at that time was still part of Hampshire County. There … Read more

Biography of James Neild

JAMES NEILD – The Neild family came from the North of England. Thomas Neild, a native of Halifax, Yorkshire, England, a stone cutter by trade, now living in Jamestown, New York, was born on February 9, 1854, and came to America in 1882, locating first at Albion, New York, where he procured work in his trade. He later moved to HoVey, New York, and in 1893 came to Holyoke, Massachusetts, and entered the mill of the American Thread Company, working there for four years. After this he returned for a time to England, but later came back to America and … Read more

Biography of Clifton Alvah Crocker

For three generations the name of Crocker has stood for excellence of quality and business integrity in the paper manufacturing industry of New England. Holyoke, long the chief place of the S. S. Crocker interests from the manufacturers’ point of view, and famous the world over as one of the most important points where the papermaking trade is centralized, has received additional prestige in that respect by reason of its being the scene of the Crocker operations. Of that name, long an honorable one in Massachusetts annals, is Clifton Alvah Crocker, president and one of the founders of the Crocker-McElwain … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Arthur W. Brown

Sales manager for Tait Brothers, manufacturers of ice cream in Springfield, Massachusetts, (q. v.), was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, March 22, 1876. His father was Frederick Ellsworth Brown, since dead; and his mother Maria MacDonald Brown, a native of Canada. The father was a machinist born in Maine. Arthur W. Brown attended the public schools and the high school in Springfield. His first employment was with Tait Brothers, in 1898, and he has continued in their employ to the present time, advancing steadily in their trust and confidence, and in the responsibilities thrown upon him. He became the sales manager: … Read more

Biography of Orin J. Nevins

ORIN J. NEVINS-Of the old guard in the lumbering industry in the western part of the State, Mr. Nevins, who for some years has been retired from active participation in his former calling, was a promoter of the manufacture of that product at a time when many similar industries were helping to make history in their field. He witnessed the progress of lumber at its best, both at Holyoke and Turners Falls, and in the prime of his life he was associated with some of its outstanding successes, sharing, too, in the progress of invention that brought the processes to … Read more